World select set to test champs

Australia looks set to play a Rest of the World team - in one Test and three one-day games - in an extravaganza that has been pencilled in to the cricket calendar for September 2005.

The International Cricket Council is close to finalising plans for its best-versus-the-rest super series, a proposed biennial event - gilded by a prizemoney package expected to be in the vicinity of $1.3 million - which would pit the top-ranked Test and one-day team against a Rest of the World XI.

If rankings stay the same as they are now, that would mean Australia taking on all-comers in both forms of the game in the first edition, expected to be held in South Africa.

The idea received initial support at a recent ICC board meeting, and has moved closer to reality after receiving in-principle approval of all 10 Test-playing nations. The issue will come up for discussion at the ICC's next board meeting in New Zealand next month. Member countries will then try to attain the agreement of their players.

But while the idea may sound attractive to promoters and cricket fans, it has again raised concernsabout the volume of cricket being played.

As attritional injuries and player burnout continue to cause problems for several leading sides, most notably Australia, the idea of adding another regular fixture to a packed international schedule has not met with universal approval - especially after warnings from cricket's corruption fighters about the need to cut the amount of "meaningless" matches being played.

The workload issue is particularly relevant to Australia, as the first super series is likely to follow a long Ashes tour.

Even if Australia is no longer at the top of the rankings by then, several of its players would probably be involved, such as Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne.

The ICC rejected concerns about workload and the amount of meaningless cricket being played. While several such World XI ventures have won only mixed reviews in the past, an ICC spokesman said this one - which seems likely to benefit from better organisation and playing personnel than many earlier incarnations - was shaping as a more than worthy drawcard.

"We believe the Rest of the World series would be a fantastic event," said the ICC spokesman.

"All our member countries have looked at their schedules and have given their agreement. The anti-corruption unit has given warnings about the amount of meaningless cricket, but we certainly don't see this as a meaningless contest."

The super series, which promises to be a big earner for the ICC, looks set to become a reality, sparking memories for Australians of the 1971-72 visit by a world outfit featuring such luminaries as Garry Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Clive Lloyd, Bishen Bedi, Zaheer Abbas and Tony Greig.

Kerry O'Keeffe, who represented Australia, says if that series was any guide, the new super series would be anything but gimmicky. "That world series was some of the toughest cricket we played. Everyone was fair dinkum about it, and it was just as hard cricket as an Ashes series," O'Keeffe said.

The method of selecting the world's finest this time around is yet to be determined. A panel might be chosen for the task, possibly using player rankings as a guide.

Using the current PricewaterhouseCoopers rankings, South African Herschelle Gibbs and NZ's Mark Richardson would open for the World Test XI, as they are the highest openers on the batting rankings, at six and nine.

World No. 3 Rahul Dravid would follow, ahead of the top-ranked Brian Lara. Some discretion might have to be applied to include Sachin Tendulkar at No. 5, since he is currently ranked only eighth, with South African Jacques Kallis - the fifth-ranked batsman and top-rated all-rounder - a likely No. 6.

Kumar Sangakkara might win a tight battle for the wicketkeeping spot, since the Sri Lankan opener is the highest gloveman on the batting rankings - apart from Adam Gilchrist - at No. 19.

The world team's leader would have at his disposal an attack of top-ranked bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, No. 2 Shoaib Akhtar, as well Shaun Pollock.